Dads

[Erikcooper]

My dad has never smoked at all. His parents smoked until he told them one day that they stunk. He's known I smoked cigarettes for the longest time so cigars instead are a plus to him. But he does ask "does it taste as bad as it smells?"

 

[EO80]

My dad has smoked cigarettes as long as I can remember. I had an uncle that smoked a pipe and loved the smell, still reminds me of Christmas Eve. But back to dad... I have only really been smoking cigars about two years and this last summer I decided it was time to let my dad know. We were out for a visit and always we sat on the back porch while he smoked his cigs and I pulled out a cigar to smoke with him. He just kind of chuckled and told me about the only times he ever did cigars. He would smoke them with a couple of shipmates in the coast guard first day out to make the new guys puke. Thought it was funny.

 

[Sp@rky426]

Old man smokes cigarettes going on forty years now, from two packs a day to half a pack a day. I've introduced him to cigars and anytime we get together with my high gravity home brew he prefers a nice cigar. A very nice feeling to just relax smoke and drink. My brother on the other hand has smoked cigs since his teens (like me but I quit over two years ago) and won't touch a cigar. Go figure.

 

[mcroom]

I heard that my dad smoked some cigarettes and passed out cigars when I was born but got sick on it and never smoked again. I guess someone should have told him you don't smoke a cigar like you would cigarettes.

 

[dontWIZonme]

My moms dad picked tobacco when he was a kid, but never smoked a day in his life. Neither did my father. I don't smoke around them, but my grandfather bought my wineador for Christmas. I tried to buy the man a bottle of champagne for his and my grandmothers 50th anni and he said "I didn't drink that on my wedding day, what makes you think I want it 50 years later?" He's the most generous and nonjudgemental man I've ever met.

 

[javelin377]

My moms dad picked tobacco when he was a kid, but never smoked a day in his life. Neither did my father. I don't smoke around them, but my grandfather bought my wineador for Christmas. I tried to buy the man a bottle of champagne for his and my grandmothers 50th anni and he said "I didn't drink that on my wedding day, what makes you think I want it 50 years later?" He's the most generous and nonjudgemental man I've ever met.

Not being an ass, but you cut tobacco. Not pick it. You pick corn.

 

[dontWIZonme]

Not being an ass, but you cut tobacco. Not pick it. You pick corn.

Fair enough. I guess I should know a little more about a product I use daily.

 

[Mikenice81]

Not being an ass, but you cut tobacco. Not pick it. You pick corn.

Not to be an ass, but tobacco farmers often reffer to priming as picking. Growing up in the heart of Tobacco Road in NC, I knew several farmers that prefered picking the leaves at certain stages to ensure each one came off at exactly the right time. It is a method they have used when priming NC bright leaf since the 1800s.

Edit To Add:
Even today a lot of farmers still pick the flowers, unproductive leaves, and ground lugs by hand and only use machines to do the final priming. There are still a few holdouts that do the whole harvest by hand. They are rare because it isn't as economically viable as it was just 20 years ago. They were actually becoming a rare breed 23 years ago when I primed tobacco for the last time.

 

[javelin377]

Burley is our main product here and it is everywhere. Spent my entire teen years in the tobacco fields and hope I never have to again. Our entire harvest is done by hand. The only machine that is used is a sprayer and setter.

Terminology must be regional. We "set" tobacco in the spring. "Top" (remove the flowers) in the summer, and cut in the late summer. None of our leaves are harvested at differnt times.

 

[Jmphotog]

Didn't really know my father to well, and was I was there he wasn't around but i'm sure he smoked cigarettes. My stepfather whom I consider my father now has an occasional cigar with me

 

[DataJockey]

Grand dad smoked cigar all the time, always had one in his hand. The funny part was most of the time it would go out and he chewed it. My dad smoked a pipe when I was young but he doesn't now.

 

[Mikenice81]

Burley is our main product here and it is everywhere. Spent my entire teen years in the tobacco fields and hope I never have to again. Our entire harvest is done by hand. The only machine that is used is a sprayer and setter.

Terminology must be regional. We "set" tobacco in the spring. "Top" (remove the flowers) in the summer, and cut in the late summer. None of our leaves are harvested at differnt times.

I hear you on that. I hated when my mom left me with my maternal grandparents or her brother for the day during summer break. We were always picking beans, shucking (husking) corn, or working on tobacco. It made me almost enjoy going to school the rest of the year.

I do miss the smell of driving down town when they had the tobacco auctions. Man the smell of tons of fresh cured bright leaf was nearly intoxicating to me as a kid. I don't think there was a smell on earth that I loved nearly as much.

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/learning-resources/tobacco.html
The part about harvesting tobacco up until 1950 is basically how we still did it up until 1990. They had started using setters and tractors on larger farms. It was still a hybrid of methods on most farms though. The harvesting was also done over a slightly longer period of time on some farms. The old timers (guys in their 70s and 80s back then) still used a lot of visual inspection and intuition to decide when to prime. They might do the bottom leaves this week and wait ten days to move up to the next level because of the cycle of the moon, color of the leaf, or chance of rain. They had a very esoteric way of deciding when things got done.

 

[TANDR2005]

this is so funny, I would never let my Dad see me smoke either, Living next door to the, I could not smoke on my front porch but the tractor shed hid me from tier house, so I could sit on my back porch and smoke. Even though I was in my 50's.... well, anyway, I always respected them and would not allow then to see me smoke. Sounds strange but then if you knew me.....

Griz, Respect. That's what it is.

 

[Benjamin]

My dad smoked a pipe when I was a kid. The smell of Borkum Riff instantly takes me back to that. He quit while I was still young and then picked up a casual enjoyment of cigars when I began smoking them in 1996. Now one of my favorite things to do with him is hang out and have a cigar. I cherish those moments.
My mom smoked cigarettes until her heart attack in 2003. She had two heart attacks two months apart (one on Mother's Day of all times) but she had been fine after her bypass and hasn't smoked since. I'm so glad she was able to give it up.